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The Sinocism China Newsletter 12.30.15

"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

I couldn’t resist one more issue…

The newsletter started 2015 with 17,065 subscribers and will end the year with just under 22,000, along with about 2,000 RSS subscribers. Thanks for reading, and if you want to support the newsletter please recommend it to friends and colleagues.

For readers interested in my thoughts on US-China relations and the accuracy of my 2015 predictions, here is a video of a panel I was on a couple of weeks ago.

Happy New Year!

Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

1.Xi calls for patriotism in achieving Chinese dream – Xinhua Xi made the remarks during a group study for the history of Chinese nation’s patriotism by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. After listening to the lecture of philosophy historian Chen Lai with Tsinghua University, Xi said patriotism is the core of the ethos of the Chinese nation that is deeply rooted in its people’s mind and holds together the unity and solidarity of various ethnic groups in China. Xi said the CPC is the steadiest advocate and practitioner of patriotism, calling for making patriotism as an eternal theme in education, in a bid to make it as the firm belief and spiritual prop of each Chinese individual and be carried on from generation to generation. // jingoism here we come?

Related:CPC vows resolve in fighting corruption – Xinhua Senior leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have called for “rock-solid will and resolve” to ensure the success of the Party’s clean governance and anti-corruption campaign. They also agreed that the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) will convene on Jan. 12-14 next year, according to a statement released after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

Related:Xinhua Insight: How a time-honored tradition helps CPC make self-improvement – Xinhua Twenty-five members of China’s top leadership criticized themselves and each other at a two-day meeting which ended on Tuesday. But unlike the attacks, defamation and even insult commonly seen in western political rivalries, the “democratic life meeting” saw the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee reach a consensus and add collective momentum to the anti-graft campaign. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, urged his fellows at the political bureau to avoid a sense of superiority regarding their power or status and keep an eye on their relatives and close aides. Xie Chuntao, a professor from Party School of the CPC Central Committee, said as a time-honored tradition, the “democratic life meeting” is an effective way for the CPC, with 88 million members now, to reflect on its problems and find methods to improve itself, especially when China now runs into slowing economic growth and environmental degradation.

3.China stresses reform in revitalizing northeast industrial base – Xinhua China highlights the role of reform in addressing difficulties facing the northeast region and revitalizing the old industrial base, according to a meeting presided over by President Xi Jinping. By 2020, the northeast region in China should have achieved medium high growth and have met the target of building a moderately prosperous society, according to a statement released after the meeting, held by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Wednesday.

4.A Bigger, Bolder China in 2016 – WSJ With Beijing holding the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 nations next year, Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to press ahead with his drive to challenge U.S. dominance of the global financial and security order. That threatens to put Beijing increasingly at odds with Washington, although U.S. President Barack Obama, preoccupied by Russia and the Mideast, is expected to avoid a major confrontation with China in his final year in office. // no wonder Beijing sees an extended period of strategic opportunity

Related:U.S. downplayed evidence of abuses in Chinese detention camps | Reuters Between February and April this year, State Department human rights experts cited these facilities as reason to downgrade China to the blacklist again, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and not previously made public. The downgrade would have placed China on the lowest Tier 3 of an annual evaluation of how 188 countries deal with modern slavery, a status shared by serial abusers of forced labor or trafficking including North Korea, Russia and Thailand.The experts were overruled by senior American diplomats in the final report on July 27. It was one of more than a dozen decisions on country rankings documented by Reuters that have raised questions over whether the Obama administration placed diplomatic priorities over human rights in the congressionally mandated report that can incur sanctions. The report came at a time of sensitive U.S. diplomatic issues with China, ranging from cybersecurity to tensions in the South China Sea. // coddle coddle

5.Microsoft failed to warn victims of Chinese email hack – former employees | Reuters Microsoft Corp experts concluded several years ago that Chinese authorities had hacked into more than a thousand Hotmail email accounts, targeting international leaders of China’s Tibetan and Uighur minorities in particular – but it decided not to tell the victims, allowing the hackers to continue their campaign, according to former employees of the company. On Wednesday, after a series of requests for comment from Reuters, Microsoft said it will change its policy and in the future tell its email customers when it suspects there has been a government hacking attempt.

6.All the president’s men: Xi Jinping earmarks top brass for overhaul of Chinese military | South China Morning Post The source said Xi wanted to root out all established factions in the army and avoid using officers who had served as close aides to previous leaders. The new heads of three major branches of the PLA had also been decided, the source said. Two deputy chiefs at the PLA General Staff Department, Admiral Sun Jianguo, 63, and Lieutenant General Yi Xiaoguang, 57, would take over at the PLA Navy and Air Force, the source said. If the appointments are confirmed, Sun would replace Wu Shengli and Yi would take over from Ma Xiaotian. Wu and Ma are retiring.

Related:PLA general who helped Xi battle graft in military retires | South China Morning Post Liu Yuan attended a farewell ceremony with colleagues from his General Logistics Department, where he was the political commissar, on December 23, according to the sources, adding he delivered a speech and shook hands. Liu is 64, one year below the mandatory retirement age for officers of his rank who are not members of the decision-making Central Military Commission. // very interesting, and not just because South China Morning Post got this wrong a few weeks ago

7.Bankers Behind ‘Belt and Road’ Business Surge-Caixin People at the Bank of China said loan schemes have been designed to support companies that transfer some of their manufacturing capacity abroad, with the goal of addressing domestic overcapacity problems. These include projects that “move steel refining and cement production capacities overseas,” one person said. This overseas production capacity can then be channeled “to support local construction projects” by Chinese companies, the source said.

8.Biding Time Until China’s Outlook Clears – The New York Times “Officials don’t know when the anticorruption campaign, the study sessions, all that, will end, and until then you don’t know who might be next to fall,” said Zhang Ming, a historian at Renmin University in Beijing who often writes about current events. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Advertisement Advertisement Continue reading the main story “On high and below, there’s no clear sense of direction,” he said. “Previously, in the 1980s and 1990s, it was much simpler — reform, build a market economy. But now, the policies are harder to read, for officials and for ordinary people.”

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

China Said to Suspend Foreign Banks’ Cross-Border Yuan Business – Bloomberg Business “They are doing the right thing,” former Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer John Mack said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The Chinese want to minimize volatility. When you have the arbitrage set up where it’s an absolute money maker and more people come into that trade, it creates a lot of volatility.” The clampdown is a short-term market adjustment because the two prices will eventually converge and the authorities have already set a target of bringing this about by 2020, said UOB’s Suan.

Local Gov’ts Had Debt of 15.4 Tln Yuan Last Year, Lou Jiwei Says-Caixin China’s local governments had total outstanding debts of 15.4 trillion yuan at the end of 2014, including 1.06 trillion yuan worth of bonds, says Lou Jiwei, the finance minister. Lou told the committee that runs the legislature between its full sessions on December 26 that the State Council wants local governments to convert the loans they hold into cheaper bonds by the end of 2017. The central government has already allowed local governments to sell bonds worth 3.2 trillion yuan to banks so they can repay old debts, Lou said.

A Chinese Company in India, Stumbling Over a Culture – The New York Times Chinese companies have embarked on ambitious overseas expansion efforts, snapping up land in dozens of countries to build factories, industrial parks, power plants and other operations. While the investments provide critical support for many economies, Chinese businesses are struggling to navigate complex cultural, political and competitive dynamics. // that different from the initial overseas forays of American companies?

Reagan’s Chinese echo | The Economist Reagan’s supply-side strategy was notable, at least at the outset, for its controversial focus on cutting taxes as a way of encouraging companies to produce and invest more. In Xiconomics, the thrust of supply-side policy is less clear, despite the term’s prominence at recent economic-planning meetings and its dissection in numerous articles published by state media. Investors, hoping the phrase might herald a renewed effort by the leadership to boost the economy, are eager for detail. // “Xiconomics”?

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang’s Regular Press Conference on December 30, 2015 Ursula Gauthier told the press that she received the so-called death threats. If I remember it correctly, this is not the first time she made such claims. The logic goes that if a person seriously believes that his or her life is threatened, the first response must be calling the police. The Chinese government has the responsibility of safeguarding lawful rights and interests of foreigners in China. But as far as I know, the Chinese police has yet to receive such an alarm. Ursula Gauthier should go to the police if she really believes she is threatened. Instead she is flaunting it in front of the press which is rather unusual, unless she is doing it for other purposes. // Lu Kang usually a very slick barbarian handler, sat at same table with him during VP Biden’s September lunch for Xi.

China to replace Japan as second-largest funder of U.N. peacekeeping | The Japan Times China is set to replace Japan as the second-largest financial contributor for U.N. peacekeeping operations in the next budget year, according to estimates by the United Nations. China, which currently ranks sixth by providing 6.64 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, is expected to provide a 10.29 percent share in the year starting next July, behind only the United States with a projected 28.57 percent contribution.

Junyu.org Home junyu.org is an online resource and community dedicated to advancing a better understanding of the professional military terminology used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Online resources at junyu.org include the Mil Mandarin (MM) Dictionary, vocabulary lists, references, and a user forum. The MM Dictionary is a topic based military dictionary with definitions for terms of military theory and practice as used by the PLA. // very useful

TECH AND MEDIA

Movie ticket sales jump 48% in China, but Hollywood has reason to worry – LA Times But Hollywood isn’t sharing equally in the bonanza: Revenue for imported films rose less than 24% this year, while homegrown Chinese movies saw almost a 69% surge. China’s box office should close out the year with total sales of about 43.9 billion renminbi, or $6.8 billion, up 48.3% over 2014, data from film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway showed Tuesday.

Exorcising Ghosts: How Hit Film Cleared China’s Censors – China Real Time Report – WSJ The movie should not be named ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light,’” said Mr. Wu, citing what the officials told him before the film began shooting in 2013. “The leading characters should not commit crimes, and the spiritual phenomenon shown in the movie should have material explanations.” To work out a script that met the censorship standard while capturing the essence of the eight-volume series, Mr. Wu and his team spent two years studying traditional feng shui, or the traditional Chinese system of harmonizing people and places with the environment. He also visited ancient tombs to learn traditional burial customs and hired historians as consultant. “The phenomenon described in the fiction can always be backed up by religious history, classic Chinese legends and science,” said the director.

Shanghai bans drug-using actors, drivers – Xinhua Lawmakers in Shanghai on Wednesday passed new regulations banning works of drug-using actors and prohibiting drivers addicted to drugs from the road. Films, television dramas, commercial advertising and stage performances that feature stars with drug offenses from the past three years will be banned, according to the regulations.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Golblatt translation of Abandoned Capital (2) | MCLC Resource Center After yesterday’s MCLC post by Dylan King, I asked Howard if he could help provide a little background about the translation of the Fei Du. His reply is below. Again, I will post an official announcement when Ruined City hits the book stands at the end of January. // an excellent book, read in 1992 when I was working as a translator in Beijing, not an easy read, had lots of help with the shaanxi hua, captures a strange time in China. Then again, isn’t it always strange?

The Legacy of the Lost Jade Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Sometime in the mid-20th century, one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most ornate galleries disappeared. The Jade Room displayed art and artifacts of Chinese jade, collected and donated by Heber R. Bishop, in elaborate glass cases, surrounded by chandeliers and arched windows in a reproduction of a Louis XV ballroom. A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection, now at the Met, showcases many of the carved objects once on view in that vanished space, while celebrating the contributions of Bishop to the museum’s Asian art department. “His is an example of one of the earliest collections of Chinese jade, not only in this museum, but probably the United States,” Jason Sun, curator of Chinese art in the Met’s Department of Asian Art, told Hyperallergic. “He was the first one who was interested in Chinese jade when most collectors were pretty much interested in porcelain.” // great-great grandfather, 富不过三代

The Perils of Advising the Empire | ChinaFile Frank Goodnow served 15 years as president of Johns Hopkins University before retiring in 1929. He would not be the last foreign scholar to come to China and have his writings used, wittingly or not, by an illiberal regime with Chinese characteristics. Goodnow’s lack of faith in the universality of certain values was a precursor to contemporary debates over the suitability and long-term viability of a “China Model.” While China today is in a far stronger and more secure place than a century ago, questions of constitutionalism, autocracy, and the direction of political reform persist. Whether today’s leaders will learn from the mistakes of Yuan Shikai a century ago remains to be seen.

Shenzhen Landfill Operator ‘Scrambled to Get Safety Stamp for Blueprints’-Caixin The operator of a landfill that collapsed in Shenzhen, killing seven people and leaving dozens other missing, scrambled to get a company to provide its blueprints with a government-required safety endorsement after a monitoring group found that the facility was not being run properly, a person close the matter says. The blueprint for the landfill was stamped by an architecture firm that neither designed the facility nor was qualified for project examination work, a source close to the architecture firm said.

Investigators Blame Violent Weather for Yangtze Cruise Ship Disaster – The New York Times A cruise ship disaster in central China this year that killed all but a dozen of the hundreds of people aboard was caused by violent weather, according to the findings of a government investigation released on Wednesday. The inquiry into the June 1 disaster on the Yangtze River also found that the captain of the ship and dozens of officials had contributed to the disaster through poor decisions and laxity.

Countries Rush for Upper Hand in Antarctica – The New York Times On a glacier-filled island with fjords and elephant seals, Russia has built Antarctica’s first Orthodox church on a hill overlooking its research base, transporting the logs all the way from Siberia. Less than an hour away by snowmobile, Chinese laborers have updated the Great Wall Station, a linchpin in China’s plan to operate five bases on Antarctica, complete with an indoor badminton court, domes to protect satellite stations and sleeping quarters for 150 people.